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Monday, November 28, 2011

Happy Monday! If you're following the Bows and Berries blog hop, you should be coming from Janet's blog. Or, you can start at the beginning from the Bows and Berries site. The B&B site also gives details on the digis you can win from the blog hop and the current challenge.

For biweekly challenge, we're all using this month's freebie Toasty Gingerbread Man stamp (check out the Bows and Berries blog to download this little guy). I wanted to create a scene with the gingerbread man, so here's the card I came up with:

There were about a zillion steps to this card (making a template, die cutting, glittering, misting, printing the stamp, masking, coloring, fussy cutting, etc.)...I'm surprised I wasn't raiding the recycling can to make my own cardstock. In the end, I realized I forgot to put on a sentiment, but I couldn't bring myself to start over. So just imagine a good sentiment, okay?

Here's a close-up of the B&B gingerbread man:

Want a chance to win some free digis and see a variety of uses for this little guy? Join the hop and comment along the way.

To join in the current Bows and Berries challenge, you'll need to use the gingerbread stamp to make anything you want...no rules as long as you use the freebie stamp. You have until midnight (GMT) on December 11th to link up your project on the Bows and Berries blog.

Robin also has 50% off everything in her shop if you use the coupon code "GIFT50." Check out the Bows and Berries site to see what she has.

For my regular readers, I apologize for being so absent from blog world lately. I've been working on a large, short-notice project for work everyday for about 10 days (working on Thanksgiving blows). I'm getting close to the end, but it's been a lot of late nights and has pretty much zapped all of my free time (and creativity). So I'm terribly sorry for not visiting your blogs--you all mean so much to me, and I feel bad when I can't visit. I miss seeing what you're up to!

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Happy Wednesday! Just a quick post to share two cards for the Create blog's washi tape challenge. I'm supposed to be working, but I wanted to share a couple of cards I made last night. First up is the hexagon card:

I put five different washi tapes from Chickydoddle (on Etsy) on cardstock and then die cut the paper using a Sizzix hexagon die. Then, I mixed up the hexagons and added some Thickers and bling. For the background, I used a Hero Arts Cling Dots background stamp to stamp the cute polka dots. Here's a close-up:

For my next card, I was inspired by something on Pinterest to make a birthday card:

I used the Lawn Fawn "Bake Me a Cake" set for the cake base, sentiment, and candle. I layered different Chickydoddle washi tapes to make the cake layers, and I used a Zig to outline the cake layers. The patterned paper is from Webster's Pages. Here's another angle:

Monday, November 14, 2011

Bows and Berries' new challenge is to make a tag. Anyone out there making a tag? Anyone? Link up on the Bows and Berries blog. Yep, it's that easy. And while you're there, you can pick up the free digi and some other cool digis, too, like the Toasty Mittens stamp I used in my tag today:

It was so easy, I made a second one using the same Fancy Pants collection:

The stamp is actually a pair of mittens. To make the tag, I printed a pair of mittens and fussy cut the larger of the two to make the tag base. Since you can resize the image, you can make the tag any size you want (well, maybe not any size...let's be reasonable). Here's what the original stamp looked like:

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I paper pieced the layers and then flocked the cuff. At first I was going to leave the tag alone (you know, be super CAS), but then I realized the the tag should be functional. Therefore, on the back I used some Waltzingmouse Stamps for the sentiments:

The paper is the backside of the double-sided paper. You could easily switch the paper and sentiments out to make a cute baby tag (you know, Three Little Kittens and all that jazz). I finished the tags off with May Arts ribbons (love their ribbon!). These tags were super easy, and you could easily mass produce them.

So, if you're making a tag this week or next, be sure to link up on the Bows and Berries blog. Also, check out my lovely design teammates' tags, too.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

I did what Karen suggested about looking at a photo and then stepping away to see what you remember. I kept thinking of the pink/blue/yellow linked together and all of the gold, so I made a Christmas card with those elements:

First, I misted cardstock with each color. Next, I die cut the base and snowflake layers from Memory Box and then embossed the snowflake layer. I'm not much of a heat embosser...I think I embossed each one 3 times to get a relatively smooth gilded look...ha ha. Here's a close-up where you can see the misting:

I am officially addicted to mists. And, I have to say the Memory Box dies cut amazingly well...no struggling to get the pieces out like some dies.

I also used the PTI Linen impression plate on the base and stamped the Technique Tuesday's Good Cheer sentiment. Here's a close-up:

If you go onto the Moxie Fab World site, Cath posted a great tribute to Katie Renz. Cancer really sucks.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend. We had our first (momentary) snowfall about an hour ago...it's officially winter.

Friday, November 11, 2011

The beach scene is from Unity's "Fly...Free" KOM, which I stamped over a heavily-misted panel. The sentiment is a digital stamp (Ali Edwards's "Bring on the Sun"). The misting is very shimmery, but hard to see in photos. Here's a close-up:

Oooo...love that shimmer! It's over the entire card, but you can see it in the photo on the sentiment. For details on the products, you can see the magazine.

I also wanted to share that I'm being featured on "Fascinating Fridays" over on Paperie Design Studio! I was pretty darn excited when Tammy asked me. Hopefully, I don't sound like too much of a dork. (Just humor me.)

My husband had his wisdom teeth removed yesterday. The doctor told us after the surgery that having them removed in your 40s is much harder than in your 20s, but my hubby is doing pretty well. The kids and I whipped up a batch of chocolate chip cookies for him, which seem to heal anything faster. LOL!

Friday, November 4, 2011

Remember learning in school about how people used to post quarantine symbols on their houses so people wouldn't come near? Yeah, that's what we needed on our house recently. My daughter and I traded a stomach bug back and forth for about 8 days. We're both almost back to normal, and luckily, my son and husband seem to be okay. Whew!

Anyhoo, I wanted to make a project to join in with Unity's Friends with Flair since I've missed the past few weeks. I used the Play Date Cafe colors (PDCC 106--pink, grey, yellow) to come up with this card:

Love the sentiment! It's from Unity's "She" set...love that set, although I don't know if it's still available. The ink drops are October Afternoon Sprinklers (the Sidewalks collection) as is the patterned paper.

While I was making this card I realized I need a good grey ink. I have Memento's London Fog (although I used a marker for this card), but it's very bluish. Does anyone know of a more neutral grey?

Some good news: Last weekend, I managed to finish up a few Paper Crafts submissions while having an oogie stomach--yuck. I didn't get most of my projects completed, but I did get one project accepted. Wa-hoo! Also, my daughter's art project is being displayed at the community's fine arts center and they have a reception tomorrow (she was 1 of 3 for kindergarten). She's pretty "meh" about it...I think she'd be more excited if it were a Math Bowl or a Barbie reception. LOL!